Hecate's Hearth
by Nimbiose
Summary: AU. It's not Masaki but Isshin who dies protecting Ichigo from Grand Fisher. And everything slows down, but also speeds up drastically. One-shot.


**Hecate's Hearth**

 **Rating.** T to be safe  
 **A/N.** yay role reversal. yay protective momma Masaki. yay strong women. obviously ignores certain aspects of the Quincy war stuff because hey Masaki's alive. unbeta'd, so tenses, grammar and spelling may be an issue. feel free to point out mistakes!  
 **Edit Aug 27 2016** : fixed up some grammar, spelling and (hopefully) tenses so it should be a bit of an easier read now!

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Masaki Kurosaki likes to think she's done a good job raising her children, for a single mother. As well as can be expected, given the circumstances.

Her son is and always will be her precious baby boy, even if he's off in Tokyo studying medicine right now (thank you Ryuuken). He makes sure to call every night, because he is a dutiful, well-mannered son.

(He is also her favourite and she knows, _she knows okay?_ , that parents aren't supposed to have favourite children but she can't help it. Not when he had such a hard time coming out of his shell after his father's passing. Ichigo is a bright, friendly young man today, but his disposition will forever lean towards the quiet side, and nothing she can do will ever change that and bring back her previous boisterous ball of sunshine. He's been scarred in his very soul.)

Despite the events in Ichigo's childhood,

(And isn't that grand? Reducing what happened, the loss of a parent right before his eyes, to _events_.)

Ichigo has become a fully-functional, if slightly emotionally stunted, member of society. Once he came out of his shell a bit more, even if he was, understandably, a lot more subdued, his magnetic personality ensured he made friends easily. Masaki, although she continues to baby Ichigo whenever he comes home, much to his embarrassment, hasn't had to worry about her eldest child in a very long time. He is happy, human and fully ignorant of the family legacy he was very nearly thrust into, if Masaki hadn't intervened and sent the Shinigami girl elsewhere back when he was in high school.

Her daughters, on the other hand, are a different matter altogether.

Karin is belligerent and boyish, with a chip on her shoulder and an easily triggered temper. It's been that way since she was young, but the death of Isshin really pushed her over the edge. Although she has acquaintances and friends, these have come about as a result of her taking her anger out on people that were bothering said friends, and that, to Masaki, is simply no way to go through life. She comes home with a nasty grin and bruises more often than not, scoffing at her mom's concerns.

Yuzu is a responsible child, if eerily silent and extremely passive aggressive. Her once sweet girl changed a lot once dad stopped coming home.

None of the siblings have ever been truly comfortable with the explanation of Isshin's death Masaki provided: he drowned in the river. However, Ichigo still cannot bring himself to talk about it without trembling, and Karin's eternally sour look gets even sourer. They both have yet get over the strong emotional reactions the ordeal produced.

Yuzu, on the other hand, was very adept at compartmentalizing her emotions even at a young age, and already back then found Masaki's explanation lacking. She's been asking questions about the details her entire life, and her morbid curiosity over the exact circumstances of her father's death has resulted in a mural of newspaper clippings, string and notes in the twin's bedroom, several of which are (unknowingly to Yuzu for a long time) related to Hollow attacks. Masaki periodically removes it, but within days it is up again. Neither of them ever discuss this ritual.

The twins are also stuck together like glue, always watching out for each other and their small group of friends who accept them despite their, admittedly, very quirky personalities. Ever since Ichigo left the house, it's been a constant two versus one situation for Masaki, and it tires her out daily to have small arguments with not one, but two stubborn individuals. This causes her to miss her son all the more, resulting in the rift between mother and daughters to grow just the slightest bit more, although never wide enough to cause a true divide. They are family, after all, and they all care about each other dearly despite the secrets of the cursed family legacy Masaki originally intended to take to her grave.

This is not an option anymore.

Masaki isn't entirely sure where she went so wrong when she tried to ensure her daughters had a normal, human life, away from the spirit world, and the Quincy, and Shinigami. Wherever it was, it is too late now. She knows that her daughters love her, as she loves them, and that she'll protect them to her dying day. The problem is, she has never properly connected with them as she's always been able to with Ichigo. Isshin had always been better at dealing with the girls. Partly, she knew and admitted, it was due to her own failures as a parent: a sort of well-intentioned neglect of her daughters and focus on her son. Partly, it had to with her own upbringing: in the Kurosaki family, mothers generally left girls to their own devices, as they typically focused on grooming their sons for succession. Masaki was thus quite inadequately prepared to connect with two strong-willed teenage daughters once her son, and former focus as a parent, left.

Two strong-willed teenage daughters who insisted on getting involved in matters way above their head, matters that Masaki thought were laid to rest with Isshin, all those years ago. Clearly, that is not the case.

Karin somehow made contact with a Shinigami, some young male Lieutenant with a shock of white hair that would lead to any self-respecting parent locking their daughter away. Masaki instead welcomed into her home with a smile, because this way she could at least keep an eye on the situation, and slowly but surely Karin awakened her otherwise dormant powers. Both Karin and Ichigo had always been able to see spirits, but that was the extent of it. It was not long at all before Karin begun leaving her human body behind and fighting Hollows with her new best friend/boyfriend.

(At the very least, Masaki enjoyed teasing her about that. Hey, a single, working mother has to find her joy somewhere, right? Also, apparently the boys names was _Toshiro,_ of all things, and asking her daughter about Shiro-kun while pretending she couldn't see his fuming spirit form made her extremely gleeful.)

(Masaki was also a very over-protective mother, and always ensured that either her or Urahara were present whenever Karin _was_ fighting a Hollow, and that the Shinigami boy slept somewhere that was _not_ her daughter's room. Oh sure, he never picked up on it, but she _knew_ he constantly felt a shiver going down his spine when he stayed in the room too long.)

And where Karin went, Yuzu was never far behind. Given Yuzu's burgeoning detective skills after several years trying to find the truth behind Isshin's death, it didn't take long for her to figure out Karin's vague excuses about soccer practice were in fact something very different. In Yuzu's case, however, the awakening of her powers was not the same at all. It surprised Masaki at first, when Ryuuken came in to the clinic one day asking her to please train her hellion of a daughter if she wanted her to live, that it was _Yuzu_ he was talking about. And then Masaki figured that if any of her children was going to inherit Quincy powers, it may as well be Yuzu, who had always had better head on her shoulders than the other two combined.

(She sent Ryuuken away with a thrown vase and a laugh, and thus ensured her daughter had an excellent, if brutal, teacher.)

(When he showed up a week later and told her he thought Yuzu had more potential than even Masaki at her age, she smiled a shark's grin.)

As she played the passive observer to the growth of both her daughter's spiritual powers, Masaki, for the first time in a very long time, felt empowered. She'd been living in limbo, she began to realize, ever since Isshin's death. Fearful that her old life and old enemies would reappear at any minute, she'd scorned anything related to the spiritual world. But now, watching her daughters flourish under the careful guidance of their teachers (because if either Ryuuken or Urahara broke one of her babies there would be _hell_ to pay and they both knew it), Masaki is no longer afraid. Because maybe, just maybe, her daughters will prove to be the change the Shinigami and the Quincy will need before long: she can feel the wars that are brewing down to her very _bones_.

(Masaki had always _always_ known they would come for them eventually. Unlike Isshin, she had no rose-tinted glasses covering her view of the future. She knew the Quincy would eventually go to war, as she knew the prophecy back to front like any other Quincy child. She knew and she was _scared to death_.

Isshin never quite understood the rationale behind her fear of behind found out, believing that they were safe, but he never questioned it.

She wishes, sometimes, that she hadn't allowed him quite as dismissive of her fears, thinking herself to be enough. Wishes she had told him _why_ she was so afraid. Because Masaki is under no illusion that Isshin's death was a mere accident due to an unexpected Hollow. Wrong place at the wrong time is not enough for her, especially since it was very auspicious for the Hollow that Isshin's powers had still been dormant at the time.

What were the chances? There were no chances.

She _knows_ who is to blame, because it was a punishment for her, a punishment for thinking she could evade the horrible reality that was the fate of the Quincy, a punishment for refusing to make more potential pure-blooded Quincy soldiers for His Majesty and god but she _hates hates hateshates_ that awful, awful man-)

Her knowledge of the Quincy prophecy is the reason why she's never let up on her training. She can still wipe the floor with Ryuuken any day of the week. Masaki has been preparing to fight tooth and nail to save her family from the moment Isshin's body touched the ground because _nothing_ would ever take anyone precious to her away _ever again_. She had been scared, yes, but lulled into a false sense of security hadn't trained for the few years she had with Isshin, and she made sure to rectify that immediately when she realized that as much as she ran, hid and cried, her blood would catch up to her eventually. And so she learned how to circumvent her stupid additional Hollow powers (thanks but no thanks Urahara you useless man) and once more become a menace on the battlefield, her powers restored.

Powers that Masaki felt no compunction calling upon to help her daughters when they needed her, as they did right now.

Karin, Yuzu, the Shinigami boy and a few of their friends had been dealing with Hollows for a while before Soul Society sent someone to check on the situation. A few days ago, Urahara had informed Masaki that Karin's new spectral companion had been taken back by the Shinigami on charges of high treason by his Captain and adopted sister. In the process, Karin had been gravely injured by the Shikai form of said adopted sister, since Karin was still not fully up to speed with the Shinigami power ups. Yuzu had shown up and been just as useless at defeating them but she had at least ensured her sister was alive.

They had now left for Soul Society to save the Shinigami boy from death with a merry band of friends after a few mere weeks of training and a Shihoin princess to guide them through (as if that would be enough).

(Masaki wanted to tear her hair out in frustration when Urahara relayed all this to her, obviously having kept a lot of information from her recently, as he knew she tended to get over-protective.)

Masaki thanked Urahara for the phone call between gritted teeth, and then immediately closed up the clinic for a week. She gathered her weapons, and calmly made her way to Urahara's Shop. Once she arrived, she railed on the shop owner to her satisfaction (she had long since gotten rid of any respect she had for the man, and instead took great pleasure in ensuring he grew more and more fearful of her since she became a mother, especially after the first time she caught him insinuating things to Ichigo that might help him realize his potential), before bullying him into letting her go through as well.

He squawked in protest, but she stood her ground, and she was just as stubborn and bull-headed as any of her children, so he eventually gave in despite being clearly reluctant at her involving herself "so early in the game".

Masaki snorted.

(She didn't tell him that the games Shinigami played, even those that were attempting to be gods, were nothing compared to the long-running game she'd been playing with the Quincy King ever since she was born.)

As she stepped through Urahara's poor man's attempt at a proper Senkaimon, Masaki breathed in the air of the place her husband was from. It seemed it was time for her to meet his family, just a few years too late.

But before that, her daughters needed her, and wherever her girls were, whatever they were involved in, Masaki would make sure that they had the best protector by their side.

Their mother.

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comments appreciated.

 **just a few notes based on some of the initial reviews:**

i'm sorry if it felt rushed, but that is what it's supposed to feel like. to Masaki, her life has been at a stand still for some time, and with Ichigo's delayed leaving, everything had slowed down. but then it also suddenly becomes very hectic and busy when her daughters become involved with the Spirit World and everything that entails. the summary alludes to this somewhat.

also, this is intended to be no more than a one-shot, as the summary states. it means that, at this point in time, i consider this story to be complete. unanswered questions and all. i dabbled as much as i felt inclined to in this particular iteration of the Bleach world as i wanted, rearranging the pieces that i saw fit to tell this particular story. many things were left unexplained on purpose. if i ever feel like addressing Masaki's estrangement from her daughters, Ichigo's role, how Toshiro and Soul Society are different, i will most likely do so in a separate one-shot, but the truth is, i probably won't be doing that any time soon. i honestly don't have the time nor the interest at the moment to put together anything beyond what i've written above. i have a hard time maintaining interest in chaptered stories, and so this way i am at least able to share an alternate version of Bleach in an admittedly compact fashion, but it's there.

while i always hope people enjoy what i write and are inspired to write their own, new versions with reshuffling of characters and plot lines (or come up with entirely new plot lines too!), i cannot guarantee that you will be absolutely satisfied and all of your questions will be answered. in fact, i can only guarantee the opposite. most of my fics are like this, and while i understand this may be frustrating and unsatisfying, it is unlikely to change any time soon. i am only here to prod people and to generate interest in alternate forms of story-telling and world building with the characters we all know and love. to shine a light on characters that otherwise are very much ignored by their author (to the extent that we get teased about their Bankai and don't even get to _see_ it -coughcough-Hisagi).

on that note, i am more than willing, however, to listen to advice on how i could perhaps make the set-up, world and exposition easier to digest. this wasn't meant to be more than a very brief glimpse into alternate!Masaki's life til now and current head space, but i am willing to work through things if there is a need to and re-publish :) please PM me if you have suggestions/would like to chat it over/help me edit!

anyway, sorry about these awkward extra paragraphs, didn't intend for that to happen. i just wanted to explain where i come from with these one-shots that give us glimpses into alternate versions of canon material. my intent is never to leave my readers unsatisfied, merely curious and inspired, but i can see how it may be a side effect of how i choose to tell my stories. so, to you, reader, i would like to apologize if you're unsatisfied or feel like it was rushed.

again, feel free to message me if you would like to world-build and/or edit with me.


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